


A Good Life

by logarhythms



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Aftermath of trauma, Death of a Parent, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, PC Greg Lestrade, References to Child Abuse, References to spousal abuse, references to stabbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 11:08:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5288417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logarhythms/pseuds/logarhythms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greg requires medical attention after making an arrest and meets someone from a past case.  This is just a little story about Greg helping a child in the aftermath of a crime and what becomes of her years later.  (Written for Gravesgiving 2015)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Life

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Kestrel337 and consultingpiskies for beta reading and providing thoughtful suggestions.

Greg leaned on the back door of an ambulance and kept pressure on his arm as best he could while watching his team take away the man who just shoved a knife at him.  Although he didn’t want to be in his current predicament, he couldn’t keep the wound closed and Sally insisted he get checked out.  A paramedic returned from the crime scene and paused for a brief moment when they made eye contact before approaching and addressing him.  He smiled awkwardly when she came up to him and asked if she could have a look.  She put her newly gloved hand over the towel he was using and glanced underneath it.  Although the bleeding across his forearm had decreased, it would take more than bandages to help it heal properly.

“You’ll need some stitches,” she said.  He sighed.  She smiled at him and gestured for him to sit on the back of the ambulance before continuing, “I should have asked. What’s your name?”

“Greg.”  Just as he said that his phone rang and he was happy to now have a free hand to answer it.  “Lestrade.”  The woman working on his arm paused and stared up at him before her smile broadened and her eyes lit up.  He noticed, cocked his head, and gave her a confused expression while trying to process Sally’s voice at the same time.  “Right.  Thanks Sally.  I’ll be there as soon as I can, but sounds like we’re just down to paperwork.”  He hung up.

Before he could inquire about whether he should recognize her, the paramedic warned him of the impending jabs and he just nodded before wincing.

“Sorry,” she said, “but that should be the worst part.”

“It was quick, so it’s fine,” he replied.  Greg bit his lip and looked at her as he thought about her reaction to hearing his name.

“You’re Greg Lestrade,” she said in answer to his unspoken question.  She looked up at him briefly and smiled.  “I thought it might be you. Twenty-three years ago you found me in a basement after my mum killed my dad.”

Greg’s jaw dropped. “You’re Sarah!”

 

They received a call about a domestic disturbance possibly involving the couple’s daughter.  Neighbors insisted they’d never heard anything before except shouting, but someone had a bad feeling when the yelling stopped abruptly and no one stormed out as would usually happen.  Greg and Charlie, a fellow PC, were sent to check it out.  The wife opened the door as soon as they knocked.  She was covered in blood, but let them in without question.

“He attacked me.  I had no choice,” she explained.  She wore an unnerving smile and wiped her bloody hands on her jeans.  Once she was escorted out of the house, they got a better look at the kitchen as the forensics team and other officers also entered.  The victim had at least fifteen stab wounds in addition to bruising that appeared to be healing, suggesting this wasn’t the first time his wife had been violent toward him.

“I think it’s still probably self-defense,” said Charlie.

Greg could only stare at him before saying, “It’s more likely this is the result of a boating accident than self-defense.”

“But a bloke can’t be, you know…”

“Abused?  Yes, he can.  This much effort in stabbing someone is not self-defense.  Did you see her face?  Like she thought it was no big deal opening the door covered in blood.  No emotion.  When people are so scared they pick up a knife to save themselves, they show fear long after the danger’s passed.”

“I guess,” Charlie shrugged.

Greg shook his head. Charlie may have had more experience, but he didn’t use it.  They helped in searching the house and couldn’t find any evidence that a child even lived there except that neighbors said the couple had a daughter.  Outside of the kitchen, the place looked plain.  Greg noticed a lack of pictures and anything personal until he wandered down the hall and found a room with only a desk and chair. On the desk there were scattered papers and a single picture, not even framed, of a younger version of the deceased holding a baby.  Greg kept looking around the house, but between the constables and sergeant, they had searched everywhere.  Where was the kid?  He found the door to the basement, but Charlie was just coming out.

“Nothing down there, Greg.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because they have a daughter and we haven’t found her.”

“But she might not be here.  What if she’s at a friend’s house?”

Greg walked past Charlie and went down the stairs.  Charlie rolled his eyes but followed.  Greg knew that in homes like these, with a mum like that, kids didn’t have friends and they didn’t visit anyone.  Greg carefully looked behind boxes and old furniture.  He knew a kid who grew up in this house would be good at hiding.  Charlie only glanced around and waited.  After a few minutes of careful search, Greg caught sight of a small face between an old chair and the wall.  She simply stared at Greg while scooting further away from him toward the corner of the room.

“Hello,” Greg said softly.

Charlie walked past Greg and reached for her hand. “Hello, great, come on.”  The girl took in an audible breath and moved back even further.  Greg grabbed his arm.

“Not so fast.”

“What? Let’s hand her over to social services. We found her so we’re done. Yeah, she’s scared, but she’ll be fine. She’s got to be tough anyway.”

Greg wouldn’t let go of his arm.  “That’s not helpful. Look, give us some space.  You’re scaring her worse.  Just give me a little time.”

Charlie stepped back with his hands up.  “Fine. You take care of her, and I’ll help upstairs with whatever else needs doing.”

Greg turned his attention back to the girl.  She looked to be about seven or eight years old.  Her clothes were clean and she didn’t look like she had been starved.  He felt a slight sigh of relief that perhaps the mother only took her anger out on her husband.  The girl had cornered herself with her arms wrapped around her knees.  She looked up at him, sitting and shaking.  Greg knelt down but didn’t move closer to her.

“May I sit here,” he asked, gesturing to a spot along the wall about five feet away from her.  She looked at the spot, then at him, sizing up the situation, and nodded.  He sat down, making sure he didn’t block her escape to the stairs in case doing so would make her feel trapped and less likely to trust him.  “I’m Greg. What’s your name, love?”

It was clear that she was trying to keep herself from crying.  Her eyes gazed at her knees and she whispered, “Sarah.”

Even though she didn’t look up at him, he smiled gently at her.  “Hello, Sarah. Are you alright?”

After a brief moment she looked over at him.  He looked back at her with genuine concern in his eyes.  He wanted to hold her and tell her she was safe now and her horrible mother would never come near her again.

“I come down here when Mum yells at Dad.  I can’t when she yells at me though.”  A tear came out of the corner of her eye and she sniffled.  “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t talk about her like that… sorry...”

“Aww, Sarah, no.  You don’t have to be sorry.  It’s okay now.”

She looked off into space and as though she had seen this day coming for years she said, “Dad’s dead, isn’t he?”

Greg’s heart broke.  This little girl had been through a war and didn’t even know it was okay to cry.  

“Do you want a hug?” he asked.  She nodded and crawled into his open arms.  More tears spilled out of her eyes, and she sobbed into his shoulder as he held her and rocked her.  “Sarah, it’s so important that you know you can cry.  Sometimes we need to cry.”  He paused and swallowed.  “I’m sorry your dad’s gone.”

She became silent after a few minutes and looked at him as he rubbed her back.  He smiled with tears burning in his eyes and whispered, “You’re safe.”  She seemed comfortable in his lap with her arms wrapped around him.  After another minute he said, “Why don’t we leave this sad basement?  We’ll find someone you can stay with and my boss is going to want to speak with you at the police station.  You’re not in trouble, though.”  He knew she’d need the reassurance.

“Will you be there?” she tentatively inquired.

“I work there, but I can see if you can sit with me for a bit.  We’ll get someone to sit with you so you don’t have to be alone when they ask you questions.  Everyone there is nice, okay?”  She gave a single nod and he continued.  “Listen, how about I carry you out of here and we go to the station together?  Do you need to stop upstairs to grab anything first?”

“Yes, please.”  She put her arms around his neck.  He adjusted his own around her, carried her as he stood, and headed up the stairs.  His DI was at the basement door with Charlie.  Greg nodded at them and explained that she needed something from her room first, but they had already overheard through the echoes of the basement.  She directed him to her small bedroom and asked for her toy rabbit.  He retrieved it from the bed, and they headed toward the only exit to the outside world.  Greg knew they’d have to walk through the kitchen to leave, and he wasn’t sure how far the forensics team had got.  As he carried her down the hall, he whispered, “Close your eyes, Sarah.”  She did so, burying her face against him, and holding on a little tighter.  Greg walked past the techs about to remove her father’s body.  At the very least, she would never have that picture in her memory.

Once outside he said she could open her eyes again.  She hesitated, but once she opened them, she was greeted with a smile from Greg’s DI who agreed Greg could sit with her as long as an appropriate adult was also there during any questioning.  If it made the process easier, that was fine.  Greg was the one who trusted his instinct to find her and got her out of the basement with minimal fuss.

Sarah had almost attached herself to Greg and wanted her to stay next to him at his desk as long as she was allowed.  Greg knew children from abusive homes usually trusted women more easily, but he understood why Sarah felt differently right now.  She was very polite to everyone, and to anyone unaware of her home situation Greg thought she would seem to be the perfect child who must have the greatest parents.

She was separated from Greg while she was being questioned about the relationship between her parents and the events of the evening.  Sarah broke down while providing the officers with some answers and from her account, they could tell that her father loved his wife and daughter, but his wife had some very serious control issues.  She justified the emotional pain she inflicted on her daughter by saying that at least she didn’t hit her.  During her questioning, Greg followed up with his DI just to make sure everything was official.

After the interview was over, Sarah walked up to Greg who was seated behind his desk filling out paperwork.  She sat next to him in the spare chair and was followed by Kate, the social worker brought in to help out.  Kate went to use the empty desk next to his as she continued her effort to assist the police in finding any of the girl’s extended family.

Greg glanced at Sarah, thought for a moment, and decided it was a good time to be vulnerable.  “When I was twelve, my parents died. My Dad was drunk and caused it.”  He didn’t want to say any more and upset her further, but maybe she’d feel less alone if she knew that someone there had an understanding of what she was feeling.

“I’m sorry,” she replied thoughtfully. “But you’re alright now?”

“It’s hard,” Greg admitted, the memory stinging his heart, “but I am. It takes time. You’re stronger than you think, but some days are really, really hard. It’s okay to feel like you do right now, but I think you’ll be alright too.”

Just then Kate ended a phone conversation and had some good news.  She was able to contact Sarah’s aunt.  She was on holiday, but agreed to take her niece and left for London immediately.  Upon hearing she would be staying with her aunt, at least for the time being, a little light came to Sarah’s eyes.

“Aunt Lisa? I only get to see her at Christmas!”  She continued, mumbling, “Mum doesn’t like me being around her too often.”  The fact that Sarah’s mother disapproved of this aunt was enough to convince Greg that they weren’t sending her to another house of horrors and he and Kate shared a smile.  It was always better for a child to go live with someone they knew and liked than for them to end up in care.

He waited with Kate and Sarah until her aunt came.  It had been a very long day for her.   _That’s putting it mildly,_ Greg thought. _She’s had a very long life._   She crawled into his lap and rested against him as she held her rabbit.

“Greg?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for staying with me.”

“Of course, lovely girl.”  He hugged her again and kissed the top of her head.  He hoped it wouldn’t be the last time someone called her that.

About two hours later her aunt arrived.  Despite being upset over her brother’s murder, she was happy to see her niece alive.  While she knew her brother wasn’t in the best marriage, they kept up appearances at the few family events they attended, and Lisa had no idea just how bad things were.  

Greg crouched down in front of Sarah one more time before she left.  “I think there’s something you need to hear, if you’re anything like me.”  He took her hands in his and looked directly into her eyes.  “You’ve done nothing wrong.  You’re a good person and you deserve a good life with people who love you.”

Sarah hugged him one last time.  He knew she would need a lot of time to digest his words, not to mention the entire situation.  Hopefully she’d hear those words again and again.

“Bye, Greg,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Goodbye, Sarah.”

Lisa smiled and mouthed, “Thank you,” before taking her niece’s hand and walking her to the next part of her life.

Over the next few weeks Greg wanted to contact Lisa and see how Sarah was doing.  He knew he shouldn’t get too attached, though.  Helping for one day was one thing, but he needed to do his job, and she needed to meet new people and learn to trust more people than just him and her aunt.  She was off in another part of London at another school in what he hoped was a better situation.  Her mother was put away for murder, and Sarah would never have to see her again.

As the years went on, Greg thought about Sarah every so often.  Every anniversary of her father’s death he thought of her and hoped she was well.  He always had a soft spot for the kids that popped up in his cases, and he never wanted the job to harden him so much that he’d forget to be gentle with the youngest victims.

 

 

Greg couldn’t stop smiling as it dawned on him that the little girl from all those years ago was now the grown woman who was currently sewing his arm closed.

“I’d hug you, but let me fix you up first,” she said. “It’s really good to see you, still out there, saving the world.”

“Is that what I do?”  He laughed.  He hardly thought of it that way.

“You saved my world.”  She was sincere.  “I lived in hell and Dad did what he could, but people didn’t think a woman could abuse a man and Mum kept up appearances outside of the house.  I was petrified that day, even more than usual, but you were so patient and kind to me.”

“You reminded me of me when I was younger,” he admitted.  “I’ve thought of you so many times and hoped you were alright.”

She put a bandage over his new stitches and smiled warmly at him.  “I am. I really am.”  She paused thoughtfully.  “You helped me see that I could trust people, and if I hadn’t had someone like you so soon after leaving that environment, I would have had a longer road to some sort of normality, I think.”

Greg didn’t know what to say, but she had finished with his arm so he hugged her.  When they broke apart they were both on the verge of tears.  Her eyes were a happier, wiser version of what he remembered from two decades earlier.  

She looked him directly in the eye and continued.  “And I did realize that I deserve a good life.  I didn’t know why you were telling me all that when you did, but I was glad for it later.”

Greg was overwhelmed.  “I’m glad you remembered.”  He so often saw the worst side of people, saw the devastation, but he didn’t really deal with people recovering or get to see how people moved on and found some kind of peace.

“I became a paramedic because of you.  I love science, but I wanted to help people too and be there for them.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

Her smile broadened and she shrugged.  “It’s true. I’m so pleased I got the chance to properly tell you in person.”

Another paramedic came back from helping another officer.  “Well,” she continued reluctantly, “we have to go, but you should get those removed in a couple weeks. We should have coffee sometime.  I’d love to hear what’s been going on in your life since 1992.”  He gave her his number, and she put it on her phone.  One more hug and a few ‘good nights’ later and they each went back to work.

On the following Thursday they met for coffee and somehow that turned into meeting once a month as their schedules allowed.  Greg was never a very social man, but he liked keeping in contact with Sarah, hearing stories about growing up with her aunt, and talking about the more serious aspects of growing up without parents.  They had dealt with a lot of it in similar ways, mostly by having a few close, trusted friends.  Most importantly, she really did have a good life and his was made better by having her reintroduced into it.  Her life had been hard and some days were painful, but that didn’t mean that her whole life had to be a tragedy.  When Greg was dealing with a particularly difficult case, especially those involving children, he thought of Sarah, but he never had to wonder how she was doing anymore and that made it easier on even the worst days.


End file.
